A Christmas Tale
by TimberPaw
Summary: Shira is about to celebrate her first real Christmas with the herd. Diego wants to give her the best present she will ever receive in her life and also has to fight with his strong feelings for her. Read and find out what Diego has in mind on this special Chrstmas. :D


**Hey guys! I know, I didn´t upload or update anything for a real loooooooooooooong time but I´m finally free from school ;) However I felt up to do a Christmas One-Shot Dira like last year and here you have it. Have fun :D**

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**Diego`s P.O.V**

Diego calmly sat in front of the herds new cave on the hyrax island, looking up into the sky and watching billions of little snowflakes falling down to the ground where they slowly turned everything into a beautiful white landscape. It wasn´t really cold outside so Diego didn´t really mind that he already had a quiet thick layer of snow on top of his normally shiny orange pelt.

Christmas was coming around and of course Diego wanted to give Shira the best present she had ever received in her young life. It also was her first real Christmas and Diego wanted her to remember it for the rest of her life as a special one. He remembered how Shira told him a few days ago that she and her crew had never celebrated anything on their boat except of Gutt`s birthday. In their leisure time they always had to do some exercises to keep in shape in case of future fights with other pirates. This selfish ape. Diego quickly stopped thinking about Gutt and the past after what happened to the herd and mostly what he had done to his Shira.

"… my Shira …", Diego repeated this thought in his mind a few times. For Diego there`s no doubt that he´s deeply in love with the white saberess and that she´s the one and only in his life and always will be. There is nothing he wouldn´t do for her and her safety. Even if he had to fight **ten** times against Gutt and his whole crew; just to make sure she stays save he would do it immediately.

But on the other side she also changed his character, which also Diego thought is nearly impossible. No matter in what state of mind he is, only the sight of her beautiful agile body or a short smile on her lips is enough for Diego to kick him off completely and makes him forget his pride for at least a few moments. You could really say that he´s melting in her paws every time he´s with her. Of course the herd notices his different behaviour too and there´s no day Sid wouldn´t make fun of his feelings for Shira. But then there´s the question …

Diego sighed and laid down in the snow, laying his head on his forepaws.

"Does she even love me?", Diego thought depressed and exhaled a white cloud of steam.

They were now living for nearly a month or so on this island and neither Diego himself nor Shira ever said a word about love. Sure, sometimes he and Shira cuddle next to each other during night if they shiver or hunt together but besides their little play fights they just live their life's next to each other like Sid and Manny.

"I´m wondering if she notices how I feel when I´m with her? Hopefully not. Otherwise she maybe thinks that I´m just as awkward as Sid, … , or even worse!", Diego thought and slapped in embarrassment his right paw on his face, not noticing the snow which laid on top of it and which was now all over his face.

Shocked by the sudden cold experience on his nose Diego jumped up, shaking his head a few times to get rid of the icy cold sensation. After Diego finished his little cat wash he tried to spot the herd members in the far distance. At the moment the last thing he needed would be someone who had seen his little … accident. Thankfully all of the other members, including Shira, were still heading to a nearby storage-cave to get some fruits and meat they stored there during summer.

Just as Diego was about to enter the cave again, a snowball directly hit the top of his head.

"What the …?!", Diego shouted angry when he recognised that all of his face was covered in snow. Again! Ready to pounce on everyone whoever did this he got himself into a pouncing position and stared at the direction the ball came from. To his disadvantage all the snowflakes were completely blocking his view, making him only see a completely white mess.

"Sid, if you d-."

Another white ball hit Diego´s side a few seconds after the first one.

This time it didn´t took him long to locate his target after he heard two, wild laughing possums from the distance.

"You guys are dead!", Diego growled and raced off without any future delay, already imagining how he´s going to rip off the head of the two rodents.

"Ruuuun!", Chrash shouted at his brother after he saw Diego racing at them and ran in the opposite direction, Eddie quickly following his brother. They both knew exactly what Diego had in mind to do to their fragile bodies.

"This time they are ready!", Diego thought to himself and tried everything not to lose the two small brown spots of fur in the snow storm. It was still becoming stronger and stronger. Nevertheless Diego saw that he was still reducing the space between him and the rodents and could already hear their exhausted breaths in front of him. Just as he was about to pounce on them they disappeared behind nothing.

It took Diego some moments to recognise that they were hiding behind Shira who was only standing a few meters ahead of him. The snow around her made her body nearly invisible for others. Diego tried everything to reduce his speed as fast as possible, already closing his eyes in case of a crash. After three seconds of nothing Diego opened his eyes again, finding himself only inches away from Shira´s face. Frozen Diego looked into her eyes for another few seconds after he finally made two steps back.

"Oh, ähh … hi Shira. What you doing here?", Diego asked smiling at her, trying to sound as normal as possible which´s normally nearly impossible for him when he´s with her.

Shira bend down and laid a leg of a dead antelope on the ground. While she did that Diego saw how the possums vanished somewhere behind her into the woods.

"Just getting something to eat from the storage-cave together with the rest of the herd. Didn´t I tell you?", Shira asked him with a lightly confused look and placed one paw on top of the leg. Diego would slap himself in his face after he heard her words and remembered how Shira told him exactly this information a few minutes ago. How could he ask HER such a stupid question? Diego started to panic, trying to find a good, but still not too embarrassing answer.

"Oh y-yes, I´m sorry. My fault. I think I was … I think I was a bi-", Diego said clearly nervous but thankfully got interrupted by the white saberess.

"No need to be nervous Softie. It was just a normal question.", Shira said smiling at him and took the leg again in her mouth.

"See you later in our cave.", the saberess muffled and went past Diego, giving him a small nuzzle on the left side of his face and vanished into the storm.

Diego was frozen. Not only because of the icy cold wind which was still blowing on the island, more because of Shira´s reaction and the treatment she gave him. He had never seen Shira doing something like … that. Especially not to him! And then her voice. It sounded quite normal but Diego was almost sure that he heard an undertone in her voice he had never heard before. Maybe even … love?

Diego remained sitting in the snow for a while, thinking about what all this was about, when he suddenly had THE idea.

"That´s it. This is the perfect Christmas present and also will be the perfect moment to tell her how I feel for her and if she does have the same feelings for me.", Diego said smiling to himself and raced off, starting to prepare everything for the big day.

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**No One´s P.O.V**

A few days went by and Diego had finally finished his work in record time. It was Christmas Eve and the herd was sitting around a big fire, singing Christmas songs and watching the beautiful Christmas tree Manny and Ellie found in the woods. It was decorated with small figures made of wood and lots of sweets (berries …) everybody likes to eat. Shira hadn´t seen Diego the whole day and slowly started to worry where he could be on such a special day.

"Hey guys. Has anyone of you seen Diego somewhere? I haven´t seen him the whole day.", the white saberess asked the herd with a concern voice.

"Sorry Shira, I didn´t see him too. Maybe he´s still fighting with his feelings for a certain person.", Sid chuckled and returned to Granny who still wanted him to chew an apple for her.

Shira just rolled her eyes to Sid´s comment. Someone must have seen him or at least must know where he is. He can´t just disappear into nowhere.

"Maybe he´s still near the "big tree". That´s where I saw him yesterday the last time.", Manny told Shira, fulfilling Diego´s secret wish to give her exactly this information shortly before they will give each other their presents. Moreover was Manny the only one in the herd who knows what Diego has in mind to do this night and promised his best friend not to say a single word to the others.

Shira wasn´t exactly sure what to think about this information but nevertheless decided to search for Diego. If nobody had seen him since yesterday it also could be possible that something had happen to him.

"I will be back soon and look for him.", Shira told the herd and stood up, stretching her body.

"Okay, but be back soon. Santa´s coming in a few hours.", Ellie said to the saberess with a wink.

"Sure.", Shira answered with a smile and vanished into the direction of the "big tree".

It didn´t take her long to arrive at the so called "big tree". It was simply a big tree in the middle of a wide meadow without any other trees or bushes where the herd loves to hang out in their free time.

"Diego! Are you there? Diego!", Shira screamed after she didn´t spot the orange saber in the clearing. No answer. Shira screamed a second time and suddenly saw a bright light only one or two hundred meters away, remembering her of a small camp fire.

After Shira scanned the whole meadow for Diego without a single sight of him, she decided to follow the light she saw earlier. With each step the forest grew thicker and got darker, making it harder and harder to get through it.

Finally Shira made the last few steps and was now standing in front of a cave she had never seen before. But it wasn´t just a normal cave you would expect to find somewhere on the island. It was a way better! The entrance was decorated with hundreds of different looking tree branches, pine corns and various star shaped objects.

Overwhelmed by the sheer beauty Shira slowly walked up to the entrance, already forgetting what she was up to do.

Shira´s jaw literally dropped after she looked inside the cave. A bright fire was illuminating the inside of the cave, allowing her to see every detail in it. On the back she spotted a hill of moss twice the size of her, remembering her of the bed she´s lying on in the herd`s cave.

Just as Shira was about to make the first step inside the cave, an orange flash of fur tackled her to the ground (in a playful way), softly pinning her to the ground like in their numerous play fights.

Shira quickly stopped fighting against the stranger when she saw who had pinned her down.

"Diego? What … what are you doing here?", Shira asked, now completely confused. The orange saber smiled a few more seconds at the saberess, finally getting down of her and sitting down in front of her. Shira did the same.

'Don´t mess this up Diego! You already got this far. You can do this. This is exactly what you always wanted since you met her.', Diego thought to himself.

"So, is this all your work?", Shira asked the saber in front of her while her eyes wandered around in the beautiful decorated cave until they got locked together with Diego`s.

"Yes, kind of.", Diego answered, blushing lightly and remembering how he and Manny tried to make it look as best as possible. If this will work out he owns his puffy friend more than just a "thank you".

Booth sabers smiled at each another for another few seconds, watching each other's glowing fur which was caused by the nearby fire.

"But, … but why?" Shira asked softly after she slowly started to figure out what all this is about.

"Because … because.", Diego looked away shortly before he faced the white saberess again. He was almost sure that he could feel the warmth and love in her eyes on his body, melting down his thick layer of proudness.

"Because since the first time I saw you, you changed me completely. But not in a way I would ever have expected. Talking, hunting or even sleeping … no matter what I do with you … everything feels so … incredible good.  
Shira, … . You are the smartest, most beautiful and simply the most overwhelming saberess on earth I ever met. I love you with every muscle in my body and always will to my death. So I´m asking you, Shira, if you want to spend the rest of your young life together with me in this cave, being my mate and the mother of our children?", Diego finished his speech, preparing himself for the worst. But before he could even speak another word he got interrupted.

"And you are even asking that? Of course I want to you silly guy! I always wanted to.", Shira half cried, half shouted and jumped onto Diego, pulling him to the ground and nuzzling his chin and his face multiple times while both sabers started to purr heavily. This was the moment when Diego realised that Shira was actually crying tears of joy, causing his fur slowly to become soaked up but he didn´t matter. All what did matter was her and to be together with her.

The couple stayed in this position for nearly 5 minutes, both enjoying each other`s present. Finally Shira lifted up her head, facing the hazel green eyes of Diego.

"I also have a Christmas-present for you, tough guy.", Shira smiled at Diego and cleaned his cheek from her tears.

"Really, what is it?", Diego asked curious.

"Close your eyes."

"Do I really have to?", Diego asked with a fake annoyed voice.

"Oh yes, close your eyes. Otherwise it wouldn´t be a surprise", Shira laughed and placed her paw in front of his eyes.

"Okay okay, if I really have to.", Diego chuckled and closed his eyes.

Only moments later Diego found his and her lips locked together, booth starting to stroke each other´s fur.

"Oh and Diego …", Shira said after they stopped their kiss to get some air.

"Yes?"

"Merry Christmas.", Shira whispered and laid her head on Diego´s chest.

"Merry Christmas Shira.", Diego said and softly laid his paws on top of her head, being willing to stay in this position for ever.

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**That´s it. Hope you like it and Marry Christmas to everyone Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho. Oh, and please say what I could do better. I really didn´t write something for a really long time. But now for the last time: Bye :D**

**See ya guys,  
TimberPaw**

**~Reviews**


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